Departing from the "Great Revolutions" tradition, Jack A. Goldstone, Ted Robert Gurr, and Farrokh Moshiri have drawn together a variety of area experts to examine contemporary revolutionary crises in light of recent social and political developments. The result is a wide-ranging compendium of cases placed in current theoretical perspective. The boo

Goldstone examines the causes of revolutions and uprisings between 1500 and 1800 in both Europe and Asia. Many thinkers previously believed that Europe’s distinctive history—particularly the rise of capitalism—had created the revolutions that launched its path to global supremacy. Goldstone says that European and Asian states were, in fact, experiencing similar developments; it was how they reconstructed themselves in the aftermath that explained why Europe and Asia developed differently.

State failure, ethnopolitical war, genocide, famine, and refugee flows are variants of a type of complex political and humanitarian crisis, exemplified during the 1990s in places like Somalia, Bosnia, Liberia, and Afghanistan. The international consequences of such crises are profound, often threatening regional security and requiring major inputs of humanitarian assistance. They also may pose long-term and costly challenges of rebuilding shattered governments and societies. A vital policy...

From 1789 in France to 2011 in Cairo, revolutions have shaken the world. In their pursuit of social justice, revolutionaries have taken on the assembled might of monarchies, empires, and dictatorships. They have often, though not always, sparked cataclysmic violence, and have at times won miraculous victories, though at other times suffered devastating defeat. This Very Short Introduction illuminates the revolutionaries, their strategies, their successes and failures, and the ways...

From 1789 in France to 2011 in Cairo, revolutions have shaken the world. They have often, though not always, sparked cataclysmic violence, and have at times won miraculous victories, though at other times suffered devastating defeat.This Very Short Introduction illuminates the revolutionaries, their strategies, their successes and failures, and the ways in which revolutions continue to dominate world events and the popular imagination. Jack Goldstone traces the development...

From 1789 in France to 2011 in Cairo, revolutions have shaken the world. In their pursuit of social justice, revolutionaries have taken on the assembled might of monarchies, empires, and dictatorships. They have often, though not always, sparked cataclysmic violence, and have at times won miraculous victories, though at other times suffered devastating defeat. This Very Short Introduction illuminates the revolutionaries, their strategies, their successes and failures, and the ways...

From Contention to Democracy addresses a crucial aspect of contemporary societies: the role of social movements for political and social change. The volume gathers together essays written by prominent social theorists who have been asked to reflect on the relationship between movements and processes of social, political and cultural change.Three broad types of movement-change nexus are distinguished and discussed: incorporation, transformation, and democratization. The cha...

What can the great crises of the past teach us about contemporary revolutions? Jack Goldstone shows the important role of population changes, youth bulges, urbanization, elite divisions, and fiscal crises in creating major political crises. Goldstone shows how state breakdowns in both western monarchies and Asian empires followed the same patterns, triggered when inflexible political, economic, and social institutions were overwhelmed by cumulative changes in population structure that coll...

For the 250th anniversary of the founding of Dartmouth College, the Political Economy Project at Dartmouth assembled a stellar cast of junior and senior scholars to explore the systemic conditions facing those seeking to found a new college two hundred fifty years ago.What were the key political, economic and religious parameters operating in the Atlantic world at the time of the College’s founding? What was the religious scene like at the moment when the Rev. Samson Occom of the Mo...

The Encyclopedia of Political Revolutions is an important reference work that describes revolutionary events that have affected and often changed the course of history.Suitable for students and interested lay readers yet authoritative enough for scholars, its 200 articles by leading scholars from around the world provide quick answers to specific questions as well as in-depth treatment of events and trends accompanying revolutions. Includes descriptions of specific revolut...

Written by eminent sociologists, this book introduces and assesses some of the most influential, recent sociological theories. Each chapter explains the theory and describes a related program of empirical research. Chapters are authored by the actual founders (and/or leading exponents) of these theoretical programs; many chapters contain a description of the inception, growth, and present status of the theoretical program. The book covers a broad range of sociological concerns, from the in...

Understanding why revolutions take place when they do, and as they do, is important in itself. Understanding how they are rooted in the societies they upend – and the ways in which those societies share crucial similarities – is arguably even more so.The enduring influence of Jack Goldstone's Revolution and Rebellion lies as much in the challenge that it issues to the long-dominant model of ‘western exceptionalism’ (the idea that it was early modern Europe's distinctive hi...